Christmas Spirit

Wow, all you readers (like, two?) are really cursed..... I mean, lucky today. You get two posts from me. This one, however, is a soapbox. I'm sorry. I apologize in advance for all the stupid/offensive things I'm about to say, and if you have school/hall spirit, I'm especially sorry.
I just got back from a floor meeting about the "deck the halls" contest. Or rather, I just escaped from it, fleeing headlong into the refuge of my own room. I mean, welcome week was traumatic enough, having to do activities with the entire building, running around in a field, not knowing what was going on, competing with some random people for some random prize. I don't know about anyone else, but sweating is not my favorite way to meet people. It's not really that much of a bonding experience either. In fact, it's rather a degrading experience. "All right! Put the freshmen through their paces! What else can we think up?" The only remotely enjoyable part was wading through the river, and even that was spoiled when it turned into a wet t-shirt contest. Stupid girls.

Now they want each hall to come up with as many cheesy Christmas decoration ideas to impress the judges as possible. Who freaking cares what judges think of our Christmas decorations? Forgive me, but the very thought of being judged takes all enjoyment out of it for me. I would say that I have Christmas spirit: I love giving gifts and surprising my family, I love hanging out with them, I love giving my friends gifts. I love sitting quiet with my family and listening to Christmas music in preparation for Christmas. I love bringing Mom & Dad breakfast in bed. I spend a lot of time preparing for Christmas, and I think it's great to celebrate Christ's birth. I mean, heck, we should celebrate it every day, but I'm OK with the idea of setting a particular day apart to remember it. I love our family's tradition of reading Luke 2 every Christmas morning. And it's precisely because I love it so much that I hate this stupid hall-spirit thing.

How dare they turn Christmas into a contest!

For me, putting up Christmas decorations is a family activity, not a point of quibbling in a residence hall. I love our Christmas decorations because every single one has a story behind it. It was either made by someone in our family, or was bought on a special occasion, or has a special memory attached from when we were little. My mom even has 'ornaments' I drew when I was in kindergarten and wanted to 'help'. I protest against these every single year, but I think it's freaking cool that she's kept them. They're lousy art, but they're a hilarious reminder of being a kid. I remember making those ornaments! It's nice that someone else remembers too. It takes us three hours at least to decorate our tree usually, because we all help, and we all talk and say, do you remember? Whose is this? When did we get it again? It's almost a passing down of oral Christmas tradition.

I like Christmas. I like decorating for Christmas. I don't want it spoiled by some stupid contest! Tell me it isn't sacrilege. I dare you.